Talking Tax

For this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we're revisiting interviews with some of the biggest tax policy makers in the news this year.The OECD's two-pillar plan to reshape the global tax framework, the Inflation Reduction Act, and getting the court system back to a sense of normalcy amid the pandemic were among the biggest tax stories this year.Kathleen Kerrigan, the new chief judge of the US Tax Court, talks about pushing for more electronic filing of petitions and other challenges. Richard Jones, chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, talks about the new work on his plate as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act.And Pascal Saint-Amans, chief of the OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration until late this year, talks about his decade-plus work revamping global tax rules and some of the organization's under-the-radar initiatives. Saint-Amans is now a partner at Brunswick Group and a professor at Lausanne University.Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Most state tax stories are about legislation, regulation, and litigation. Too often lost in the headlines are the people who develop and manage state tax policies, and their motivations for pursuing careers in tax advocacy and tax administration.On this episode of Talking Tax, we talk with Alan Lindquist, a special assistant attorney general with the Illinois Department of Revenue. Lindquist has had an unusual career, representing taxpayers as a partner at Chicago-based Winston & Strawn LLP for 30 years. He surprised many of his peers in 2018, when he retired from the legal giant and began using his extensive background in complex tax litigation as an advocate for the revenue department.He spoke with Bloomberg Tax’s Michael Bologna about his career choices, the balance of power in tax litigation, the hot topics in state taxes, and the challenges revenue agencies face. Lindquist also offered some advice to recent law school graduates—and near-retirees, too—by encouraging them to consider public service work.Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Starting with Ronald Reagan in 1981, every Republican president at some point has made tax cuts a centerpiece of his economic agenda, often with scant evidence that these policies have produced economic benefits that touch all Americans.Delving into some of the more notable moments in this history offers a roadmap to this inequality.How did a tax designed to discourage multigenerational inherited wealth come to be known as the "death tax?" Why are qualified dividends—which most taxpayers see as a single line on their 1040s—an outsized benefit for high income individuals? How did generous incentives help to reshore income held abroad?On this episode of Talking Tax, James B. Steele, a two-time Pulitzer Prize journalist who has covered economic inequality for decades, sat down with Bloomberg Law editor Bernie Kohn to talk about his story co-written for the Center for Public Integrity and Bloomberg Tax showing how US tax policies have consistently fueled inequality.This podcast is a partnership between the Center for Public Integrity, a newsroom that investigates inequality, and Bloomberg Tax.Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence are quickly reinventing how auditors test corporate accounts, but these innovations also may require a reimagining of auditing standards.Christina Ho, a member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, has called technology the “audit quality challenge of the 21st century." She's leading a working group of technologists, data scientists, and more traditional finance leaders to help the regulator plan for the future of digital auditing—setting the stage for guidelines that could boost audit quality—and facilitate an even playing field for large and small firms.On this episode of Talking Tax, Ho, who has called herself a “data nerd," sat down with Bloomberg Tax reporter Amanda Iacone to talk about her career and tech background and share how those experiences shape her efforts at the US audit regulator.Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Clean energy developers and investors trying to make the most of the credits in President Joe Biden's tax-and-climate law are evaluating how new requirements to get the boost are impacting projects.The tax-and-climate law devotes $374 billion to support climate and energy measures, including adding more and expanding on existing tax credits for the clean energy industry.One of the energy credit adders in the law, also known as the Inflation Reduction Act, is the domestic content requirement. It allows energy companies to get a 10% increase in the credit amount if all of the steel and iron from a facility is produced in the US and 40% of the manufactured products is produced in the US. However, one hurdle is that the US supplies to meet the manufacturing threshold is limited.On this episode of Talking Tax, our weekly podcast, Bloomberg Tax reporter Erin Slowey speaks with Amish Shah, a partner at Holland & Knight, about the value of the credits to companies and who's interested in the getting the domestic content adder.Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

On this week's episode of Talking Tax, we bring you two discussions that focus on some of the biggest developments facing multinationals' tax departments.First, OECD tax head Grace Perez-Navarro shares with Bloomberg Tax reporter Isabel Gottlieb a glimpse into what's coming next from the global tax deal: the transfer pricing simplification plan known as Amount B, details on which unilateral measures will be revoked, and more guidance on the global minimum tax.Next, the acting commissioner of the IRS's Large Business and International Division, Holly Paz, talks to Bloomberg Tax reporter Michael Rapoport about where her team is focusing, including on transfer pricing audits and partnerships' disclosure of foreign income.These discussions took place at Bloomberg Tax's Nov. 17 Leadership Forum.Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Calls for regulation and global standards for the cryptocurrency industry have taken on fresh urgency recently, with the stunning collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange and its sister trading house Alameda Research.One important regulatory proposal already in progress is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Crypto Asset Reporting Framework—CARF—which would standardize how global tax authorities regulate and share information on cryptocurrency assets and still give nations significant leeway to set their own rules. The G20 endorsed the OECD’s crypto plan at its October finance minsters meeting.On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, Bloomberg Tax correspondent Shaun Courtney speaks with the OECD Center for Tax Policy and Administration’s Paul Hondius and Artur Olszewskicq about the crypto framework. Hondius and Olszewski talk about what the new framework does and doesn’t do, how it meets the needs of tax administrations, and expectations for implementation of the standards among G20 nations—which of course include the U.S. They also offer an update on the organization's timeline for creating legal and IT solutions to help countries with implementation and global information sharing.Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The polls have closed on the midterm elections, but with many races left undecided, it's still unclear which party will lead the next Congress.Though there was no "Red Wave" as some prognosticators predicted, Republicans appear to be closing in on a narrow majority in the House. In the Senate, the balance of power remains up in the air as the Nevada and Arizona races remain uncalled, and the Georgia contest between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker heads toward a December runoff.On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, Bloomberg Tax reporters Chris Cioffi, Naomi Jagoda, and Samantha Handler preview what kind of oversight a House Republican majority may conduct and who's poised to take over for retiring ranking member Kevin Brady (R-Texas).The group also talks about how a potentially GOP-controlled Senate could slow down the process of confirming a new IRS commissioner to replace the outgoing agency head, Charles Rettig.Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

State policy makers and budget officials are facing a period of greater economic uncertainty as forecasts increasingly point to the likelihood of at least a mild U.S. recession in 2023. Over the past year many states have sought to stay ahead of any downturn by managing their budgets more prudently.Roughly 30 states took some type of permanent tax policy action in 2022 through their legislatures—rate cuts for income, corporate, or both, plus some sales tax holidays—to offer relief to taxpayers. Many also put more guardrails in place to help offset future economic volatility by funding reserves, instituting revenue triggers, or slowly phasing in rate cuts.On this episode of Talking Tax, Bloomberg Tax reporter Donna Borak speaks with Eric Kim, head of state ratings and senior director at Fitch Ratings, about his outlook on the U.S. economy and how states are preparing for what's expected to be challenging economic times ahead.Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

Tax professionals are racing to advise companies on two laws passed this year—the tax-and-climate law and the CHIPS Act—both providing tax credits that can be claimed as soon as Jan. 1. Guidance from IRS and Treasury can't come soon enough as companies try to decipher how they would be affected.On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we discuss one Big Four accounting firm's strategy for working with companies as they eagerly await guidance.Bloomberg Tax's Erin Slowey speaks with Steve Kimble, chairman and CEO of Deloitte Tax LLP. Kimble talks about some of the biggest questions he'd like to get answered from the agencies and how companies shouldn't wait for guidance before planning. We also get an update on how the firm is consulting with companies ahead of the midterm elections.Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.